Improvement in street-car platforms



l. B. SLAWSDN.

Street- Car Platforms.

No. l58,749 Patented1an-.12,1a75.

fa@ j.

UNITE'D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JoHNAB. YsLAwsoN, 0E NEw YoEx, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN STREET-CAR PLATFORMS.

Specification forming part of LettersPatent No. 158,749, dated January 12, 1875; application filed December 16, 1874.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN B. SLAWsON, of New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rear-Entrance Platforms for Street-Gars; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification, in which- Figure l represents a side elevation of a street car having my improvement applied thereto. Fig. 2 represents a plan of my iinproved platform-step detached from the car; and Fig. 3, a plan of the car reduced, the roof being removed.

In street-cars having an entrance-platform in rear great trouble and annoyance are experienced from passengers standing in front of the entrance-door, which prevents free access to and exit from the car, passengers having to squeeze through in order to enter or leave the car, and which not unfreqnently results in severe accidents. The object of my invention is. to remedy this trouble, land at the sametime facilitate the entrance to an exit from the car.

To enable others skilled in the art to make, construct, and use my invention I will now proceed to describe it in detail, omitting a particular description of such parts of a car as are non-essential to a full understanding of the improvement.

rJlhe body of the car, with its running-gear, &c., may be made in the ordinary way, or in any other suitable way, and forms no part of the present improvement, which relates solely to the construction of the rear or entrance platform. In thisV case the improvement is shown as applied to an independent and detachable platform, A, so arranged with rela# tion to the floor of the car as to be intermediate between it and the ground, thus dispensing with the use of an extra step to reach the platform, but my improvement is equally applicable to a platform arranged on the same level with the floor of the car, and to which an in- 4 work of the rear end of the car.

termediate step at each end would be requisite to reach it from the ground. The platform A, as represented in the drawings, is supported on bracket-braces b, which in turn are iirmly bolted to the under side of the frame- Of these supporting brackets two or more may be used, according to thejudgment of the builder, the platform being firmly bolted thereto, and, if desired, may also be firmly bolted to auxiliary braces or beams a.

Platform A may consist of a solid door, or it may be made of slatsc c', as represented in Fig, 2, which, for some reasons, is deemed preferable. By reference to that figure and Fig. 3, it will be seen that the rear or outer side of the platform is curved inwardly toward the car-door, and iiared toward its ends, thus materially narrowing its width immediately in front of the entrance-door, and yet giving free access at the sides for the entrance of'passengers. This peculiar form of the platform, when combined with a rail of corresponding shape, prevents passengers from standing in front and crowding up the entrance-door of the car, `the object being to bring the rail and dasher so near the door that no room will be left for standers.

It will also be seen that the platform is made much shorter than the width of the car, which prevents accidents to the passengers from passing vehicles in entering and leaving the car. To prevent the passengers from falling off the platform as they enter, and to narrow the width of the platform opposite the entrance-door, as before stated, a protecting frame or rail, d, and sheet-metal apron fis erected on its rear side, and supported on suitable standards c erected on the platform, the rail being made large and strong, so as also to assist the passengers in getting on or off.

In curving the outer side of the platform the outer or curved board or slat may be made of metal or of wood, in which latter case it may be formed either by bending it into form, or else by cutting it out of a wide plank, as may suit the ideas of the builder. The latter plan for some reasons is deemed the better mode. Or, instead of inwardly curving the outer edge of the, platform, it may be made straight, and an inwardly-curved rail7 d, and standard-supports e, used for the same purpose; but such would be clumsy and unworkmanlike, although it would answer the same purpose.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters 'my own I affix my signature 1n presence of Patent, is-

1. A street-ear, provided with a platform for the exit and entrance of passengers, in

which the rear side is curved toward the entrance-door, in the manner and for the pur-y poses set forth. -i

2. In combination with the entrance-platform of a street-car, a protecting-rail, d, curved inwardly toward the entrance-door, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as two witnesses.

J. B. SLAWSON. Witnesses:

R.' E. STILWELL, HENRY J THORNTON. 

